Fractured Worlds
by Opal Fruits
Summary: Years after Doomsday, Rose is getting on with her life until a spaceship with a very familiar pilot crashes into her world. She discovers that the universe still needs saving, and an old friend needs her help. 10Rose.
1. Familiar Faces

**Title: **Fractured Worlds

**Rating: **T, I think, tell me if you think it's wrong.

**Summary: **Years after Doomsday, Rose is getting on with her life; until a spaceship with a very familiar pilot crashes into her world. She discovers that the universe still needs saving, and an old friend needs her help. 10/Rose.

**A/N: **This is my first _Doctor Who _fic so I would appreciate any feedback as to whether it worked well or not. I have only seen the new series, but I've done my best to research details from the old series using Wikipedia and various fansites.

**Disclaimer: **_Doctor Who _and associated characters belong to the BBC and I'm making no profit from this.

**Chapter 1: Familiar Faces**

A bright flash of light appeared in an otherwise almost completely dark sky. The stars, tiny pinpricks of light, seemed at first to disappear. Even the glow of the moon seemed lessened. Then the flash was gone and what might, to a casual observer, have appeared to be a high flying aircraft was there. White, red and green lights where before nothing had been. But they were getting bigger.

The craft was moving so fast little of it could be seen. But it gave the undeniable impression of sleekness, a hint of luxury, the sports car of the sky. It was racing now, but racing towards the ground.

Out of control, it spiralled. Moving this way and that. Whoever was in there no doubt clinging on for dear life and hoping it would all be over quickly.

Then it hit.

The noise could be heard from the nearby roads and farmhouses, a colossal crash and the craft crumpled. A large metal triangle fell off it and hit the ground; the front end was wrinkled and half dug into the mud. The only fire that appeared was very small, but somehow that was quickly doused. Almost as quickly as it had appeared, it was all over. No more noise, no cries for help, no lights.

The farmer who owned the field had watched the whole thing out of his front window. Shakily, he finished his brandy before phoning '999'. The cool voice of the operator thanked him for his call and said the matter was being dealt with. He could expect some police or army folks to appear and take it all away.

'What was it?' he asked, still staring out of the window holding his empty glass. He was glad his wife had not seen it; it would have scared her half to death.

'The details will be given in a press release tomorrow,' replied the lady on the phone. 'I'd suggest you watch it on TV. Probably a small plane,' she added blandly; and hung up.

The farmer poured himself another brandy and continued to look at the shadow in the middle of his field. A small plane? It hadn't much looked like one, but then, he wasn't an expert so what was he to know. These rich kids and their silly toys could look like anything these days. Although getting the army involved seemed a bit much? Surely they had wars to be fighting rather than fields to be guarding. But then he heard the steady whir of helicopter blades as a small chopper flew over his house and began to lower itself into the field. This was quickly joined by a much larger helicopter. He sat down on the window seat in the hopes of something to tell the grandchildren.

xxx

Torchwood Institute had been the first to know when a strange craft entered the Earth's atmosphere, especially when it was bound for England. As soon as its approximate destination was calculated, the troops were off. A platoon of soldiers inside a modified Chinook and a further section were sent inside a large truck. The smaller helicopter that the farmer had seen was a modified Lynx carrying only six people, one of whom was officially a civilian yet she was the most important there.

As the Lynx landed it waited for the Chinook to gently touch down. As soon as it did, its doors were flung open and soldiers were running out, weapons in hand, surrounding the downed craft. The almost silence in which they did this carefully pre-planned move seemed pointless, since no one awake enough to notice them would have failed to hear the two helicopters. Soon, most of the soldiers surrounded the craft in a wide circle, weapons pointed inwards. A few pointed outwards, just in case, and the commanding officers stood back, near the door to the Chinook. They were also armed, but mostly as a formality rather than to actually use them. The thirty soldiers in a ring on the ground were prepared to use theirs. Indeed, many of them probably wanted to, this was why they had joined up after all.

The platoon sergeant bellowed an order at the same time a brief radio message came through to the Lynx, announcing it was safe for them to exit. Three section commanders ran towards the platoon leaders, and those in the Lynx prepared to exit.

First out was an old man in combats, holding his weapon at the ready. He was ex-special forces and it was not hard to see why, from his careful look to his bulging muscles, his whole attitude suggested those around him should be careful. The next two were also in combats, but had bright red and white crosses on their chests and backs; they were not armed. Next followed the two pilots, clutching their weapons. The final person out was a young woman with neat blonde hair and a tidy brown pinstripe business suit on. Oddly enough, she also wore a loose brown tie around the neck of her white shirt.

She jogged over to the platoon commander, ignoring the squelching and the flecks of mud she felt on her tights. The other five followed her, the older man catching up.

'Have they finished with the theatrics yet, Mr Richards?' she asked him as she jogged. Warrant Officer Richards sighed, he knew better than the point out that what was inside the craft could very well be dangerous. The boss didn't approve of all the soldiers. She never did. She's go in with just the medics if she could.

They arrived near the base of the Chinook. The platoon commander was an army captain, no doubt pulled out of his regular duty to work for Torchwood: they all were. Some relished at the chance to work with new weapons and technology. Most would rather be out in the field than performing guard duty. Mr Richards saluted the captain, as did the other four. The boss didn't have to, of course.

'Captain,' she nodded.

'Miss Tyler,' he replied, observing her. She looked young, much too young for this. She was, to his knowledge, twenty-seven, but she looked barely out of her teens. He'd never worked with her before but he'd heard a lot about her, a lot of good things and a lot of strange things. Everyone working for the institute knew Rose Tyler. Appearing out of nowhere at nineteen with no degree and no A levels, she had an absurd knowledge of Torchwood and aliens as well as, so he'd heard, good skills in the field. It hadn't taken long for her to be promoted.

She held a small hand held-computer and scanner to show him.

'We're reading one life form,' she said, tucking a stray hair behind her ear impatiently. 'You cannot possibly justify all these soldiers for one life form.'

'I'm under orders, Miss Tyler.'

'Well I'm now giving you these orders: do not shoot. Not unless it shoots first. I don't care if it looks scary. It hasn't moved since it hit the ground so it's not likely to hurt, it probably wants help. Oh yeah, and find out if any of your troops found anything strange.' She turned to her medics. 'Go and do your stuff. If you need any help you can bug the soldiers or radio me.'

The captain turned to his section commanders.

'Go back and brief your men. They fire only in self defence and they are to help the medics if needed. Anything… odd, and myself and Miss Tyler would like to hear about it.'

Rose was tapping at the computer screen with her specially designed pen. One heat source, human shaped… one heart beat. Ah. So definitely not Time Lord.

'Looks human,' she commented.

The captain frowned. 'It sure as hell wasn't flying a human craft.'

Rose said nothing and walked forward. Warrant Officer Richards was right behind her; he was her unofficial body guard after all. She didn't mind as much as she'd thought she would. After the initial shock of following orders from a young girl with no military training, he'd seen her in action enough to realise she knew what she was doing. The others were soon following, and the captain caught up with her.

'We've not been given much of a brief,' he said. 'Just the usual surround and shoot anything that looks hostile. Can you tell me anything?'

'Not much, I might soon be able to say more,' she said. 'What I do know is that this ship appeared in the middle of our radars out of nowhere. We can detect any movement in the solar system and it appeared barely a few kilometres from the atmosphere.'

'Maybe it travelled fast?' suggested the captain.

'Not likely. It would have to travel faster than light, much much faster than light, to stay off our radars. Then halt with infinite deceleration. I'm guessing some sort of teleport, although why teleport there, then suddenly crash I don't know.'

'Maybe the teleport went wrong or the pilot was injured,' suggested Richards, with a slight frown. Rose nodded, distracted. She talked to Mr Richards about a lot of things, it never hurt to have a second in command who knew what was going on. And she had been pleased to find that he understood a lot of things, too.

'That seems most likely,' she said. 'There are a couple of other possible explanations, but that's the one to go by until we know more.'

The party stopped, inside the circle of soldiers, just a metre or so from the craft. Rose had got used to being surrounded by guns, not only were the men extensively trained as marksmen, but the bullets were specially developed. Of course, the soldiers all wore armour of alien design, which couldn't be penetrated. It was the only way they could surround a craft and not risk killing each other.

Rose bent and picked up a piece of silvery metal. The bits that weren't covered in mud were elaborately polished. She stepped closer, the rest of the craft was the same. It had the look of being loved. She stepped back and looked at the shape again. Vague memories formed in her brain and she smiled. It did very much look like-

'Miss Tyler,' she turned to see the captain and a young male private. He was tall, not too bulky, bit of blood on his forehead and a slightly nervous look on his face. That was odd, she frowned: army men should be unshakeable, especially this lot. Well, maybe she just liked to think that.

'Yes?' she said mildly, turning to the private.

'Sarg said we should report if… if anything strange happened, Miss,' said the private. He had the demeanour of a school boy. Rose nodded, urging him to continue. 'Well, I'm a bit accident prone, see, and one my way out of the Chinook I twisted my ankle and smacked my head on my weapon when I tripped.'

The captain tutted, but Rose shushed him.

'I really had to hobble to the ship, but it's just a bit of pain, see. But when I got down on the floor and lay there, the strangest thing happened. I thought I saw this sparkle in the air, brushed it off, course, coz I thought it was be being silly. But next thing I know, the pain's all gone. My ankle's fine. And according to Stoner… er… Private Thomas, Miss, there's no cut in my head, either.'

Rose glanced at his forehead, but what he said was true: dried blood but no sign of a cut. She frowned, curious now; she'd definitely seen this before.

'Nanogenes,' she said, to the assembled cast of characters, which didn't seem like much of a revelation to them. 'And I'm sure I've seen this sort of ship before,' she added. 'You know what I think? I think this guy's a human.' _And I think he's travelled through time to appear on our radars. But why would it he be here? And why would the ship break down like that?_

Just then, one of the medics ran over.

'He's ok!' he said. 'He told us this ship had really high tech airbags, enough to stop him from dying after this flight.'

'What is he?' said the captain, frustrated.

'His name's Jack, and he's as human as you or I,' replied the medic. 'A bit vague on where he came from though. He's bruised and tired, the privates are making him a brew right now. Though he's more concerned about the state of his ship. Like a kid who scratched his car.'

Rose's heart skipped a beat. Jack? A shiny ship that screamed 'look at me', nanogenes, time travel… it couldn't be. She just had this feeling… then her thoughts caught up with her: even if it was, what did it matter? She was in a different world now that had no Rose Tyler until she'd arrived. The Jack Harkness of her world had died on board Satellite 5. Whoever this was, they wouldn't know her. But still… a time traveller! The first she'd seen. If she could adapt the technology then she could… she didn't know yet. She'd left a life behind nearly seven years ago that she'd never planned on dropping.

A familiar American voice filled the quiet.

'I say, what do you call this? Not coffee, surely? I'll show you how to make coffee!'

'Right again, Miss Tyler,' said the captain. 'But please tell me why it had to be an American?'

They walked around the ship and Rose saw Jack, looking a bit older than when she'd last seen him. But still the same old Jack. The typical-rude-American act had been an excuse to insist the soldiers added some alcohol to their coffee. She smiled, no doubt he was eying them up and trying to decide if any of them were interested. The commotion drew the rest of the platoon around, to see the alien. Or in this case the 51st century time traveller, although no one knew that bit yet.

Jack took a long drink from the mug of what was mostly alcohol and a little bit of a coffee, brushing his hair with his hand and looking around. When his eyes met Rose's he froze.

Rose stared. Recognition. No. It was impossible. How could he know her?

Jack recovered well. 'Wow, you're a bit of a doll, aren't you? What's a nice girl like you doing in a place like this?' he said, with a wink.

'Er…' field experience was one thing. There was no way she could be prepared for this.

'Harkness,' he said, jumping to his feet and kissing her hand. 'Captain Jack Harkness.' He winked at her, but it was not one of his usual winks, it suggested she ought to play along. The platoon commander bristled, not only did this one hold the same rank as him, he also was acting entirely irresponsibly. And Miss Tyler seemed shocked, almost not knowing how to deal with it.

'I'm… I'm Rose Tyler, Captain Harkness,' she managed at last, knowing what the platoon would think. Well, at least it was better than the alternative. She took a deep breath. 'Right, Captain, I want you to go to the farm and talk to the owner, say it was a private plane. Mr Richards, you're in charge of the platoon. Keep them ordered. Do not, I repeat, do NOT touch the craft. Do not contact anyone and do not discuss this. This is going to be a code 3 case.'

'And you?' asked Richards, warily. The boss's reaction to this Captain Harkness had worried him, since he'd never seen her lose her cool before.

'I'm going to talk to Captain Harkness and find out what he knows.'

She led Jack a short way from the craft. And stared at him a bit more, still not fully believing it.

'You died,' she said, finally.

'I did,' he said. 'I remember it well. But then I came back.'

'How?'

'The Doctor said it must have been you.'

'You've seen him?' Rose's voice rose, became more frantic.

'Sure, just last year. Let me go through this a bit more logically. I woke up on Satellite 5, looked around and felt a bit pissed off at being abandoned. However, I had died, so I guess you had your reasons. Fortunately, I'm not just thoroughly amazing in bed, I'm also a pretty good engineer. I built myself a pretty rough time machine, but it worked. Took me home. I got my feet on the ground, and bought myself a new ship, whose lovely self you can see over there,' he pointed. He was frowning now. 'Cost me an arm and a leg and everyone loved it.'

'The Doctor?'

'Can't be distracted, I see!' he said, with a bit of a smile. 'So I did my stuff, travelled around a bit, partied, stole things and sold them for ridiculous prices and pretended to be a time agent. Not much saving the world, but hey, I can't do that every day.'

Rose was looking at him impatiently, he sighed. 'OK, OK… so I was in this bar, chatting to a couple of amazing girls. Then this skinny bloke runs up to me, brown hair, silly suit and even sillier trainers. Wasn't too bad though, so I was going to accept his offer. Then I realised he didn't want sex…'

xxx

_The bar was crowded and smoky and the lights were a dimmed, green hue. Most of those in there were in large groups of friends, chatting animatedly and sharing buckets full of cocktail. Anyone who looked alone was quickly picked up and pulled into one of the groups. Jack sat with a girl on either side. They looked human and talked human, but in this light you could never be sure. Oh well, he didn't care whatever they were; they had amazingly low cut tops and not very much in the way of a skirt and that was more than enough to keep Jack entertained at that moment. A good figure, be it male or female, transcended species. Or so he felt, anyway._

'_Jack? Captain Jack Harkness!' the skinny man had an enthusiastic light in his eyes and he pulled Jack into a hug. 'I don't believe it! Well I didn't, even when I saw you on the monitor, but now I definitely do!'_

'_Well, I guess my reputation preceeds me…'_

'_Huh? Oh yeah, I've regeneratated!' the man was still grinning. He was a bit pretty, actually, but possibly a bit of a loon. 'It's the Doctor, Jack.'_

_Jack looked at him. Definitely a loon._

'_OK, maybe you've had a bit to much to drink, the only Doctor I knew was older than you, with less hair.'_

'_Satellite five, battling the daleks? How about the nuclear reactor in Cardiff in 2006? Or the Chula warship and all those nanogenes and the little boy who wanted his mummy?'_

_Jack looked either side of him, the two women were pretty hot. But, he supposed, he could get plenty of sex in many places and this was something different. The Doctor's grin grew even wider. _

'_Excellent!' he said. 'Come on, let's get back to the TARDIS, I think we maybe need to have a bit of a chat about some things.'_

'_Ya think?' said Jack, with a raised eyebrow. _

'_I thought you died on Satellite 5,' said the Doctor, a frown gracing his face. 'I would have waited for you if I'd known. What happened?'_

'_I don't really know,' said Jack, getting into step beside the Doctor as they left the crowded bar. The air outside was chilly and fresh. Night had long since fallen. Jack wasn't entirely sure where they were, or even what time they were in. 'I was dead, but then I wasn't, something brought me back.'_

'_No?' said the Doctor. 'That's a miracle.' He frowned, remembering. 'That's more than a miracle, that's the power of the time vortex. "I bring life," that's what she said. Maybe she meant it? Impossible! But so was the whole thing. And this was Rose, after all.' A strange look appeared on his face, a look of sorrow, but just for a second before it vanished again. 'Let's just say a lot has happened since we last met, Jackie-boy, and luckily for you I'm in a talking mood!'_

xxx

'And he basically told me everything you two did for a year, and most of what he's done since.'

'So he's OK? And he's not changed again since I left?'

'Nope, he says he's managed to avoid dying,' Jack grinned wryly. 'I was glad to see him, even if that meant sex was off the menu for the night. I never really knew what happened to you guys until then.'

Rose looked around her, wishing for somewhere to sit, somewhere private to be so she could talk to Jack. An open field with a bunch of soldiers a few feet away.

'So anyway, Rose, what about you? You're bossing these guys around and you don't look a day older then twenty. It's been seven years, or thereabouts, since you left, but it looks like one or two on this side. I really need to look at that ship, I mean, switching between universes is fine, but switching times? Insane.'

Rose looked at her feet. She got this a lot. No one could deny it, she hadn't changed. Sure, she'd grown up a bit, she wore suits and less make up now. But physically: nothing. She'd even talked to her GP, since even her mood swings and hormones hadn't grown up.

'I'm twenty-seven,' she told Jack, quietly.

He looked concerned. 'That's not right. Seven years? Do you think it's something to do with the time v-?'

'Don't think I haven't considered it. But what can I do? I've been working for Torchwood, I'm the first to know about the aliens here, and in the seven years there hasn't been anyone who worked with time, especially not a TARDIS, and no one who can explain.' Jack bit his lip, he couldn't offer her any comfort in front of the troops.

'Look, I've er… done some work for Torchwood in our world,' he said. 'So I know the policies. Can we get back there and fix my ship so I can get out of here before the good old institute tries to get hold both me and it prisoner.'

'But where are you going? You're stuck in this universe now! You might as well come and work at this Torchwood with me!' Rose suppressed the tears, was he just going to up and leave? The one familiar and friendly face of all the aliens and he wanted to leg it.

'Hey hey,' he said, gently. He stopped himself from grabbing her shoulder, or hugging her, or kissing her, or something. 'I'm off back to our universe.'

She stared at him in wonder.

'But how, the Doctor closed the rip, no one can go through again!'

'First off, I managed to somehow punch my way through, didn't I? Sure, it was a malfunction and completely accidental but the very fact that I ended up in this universe kind of implies that the rip isn't as contained and closed as the Doctor thought it was. Secondly, even if it was: it sure as hell ain't any more! But that's another reason to hurry, no doubt the Doctor's keeping a close watch on it, or it'll send out signals, or something. How long is it going to be open for?'

'But travelling through could... could…'

'Destroy the universes? Sure, maybe, but that last time was from complete abuse by the lovely Institute. This time it was accidental and only happened once. It can and will be a return journey.' Jack grinned at her. 'Chin up, honey, Captain Jack has an answer for everything!'

'The TARDIS broke when it came here, the Doctor only fixed it by a miracle, how do you plan to get back?' she said, the barest hint of hope finally in her voice.

'Positivity and lots of smiles,' said Jack, but he didn't look downcast, so Rose was forced to smile back. 'The good old Doctor told me about you lot stopping the Cybermen here, and he told me what happened to the TARDIS. Time Lords and their ships may be special, but if your ship takes its power of the universe and you're in the wrong one, you're stuck. If your ship is a little bit bashed but its battery is still in tact, you're laughing. And giving the Masters of Time the two fingered salute as you speed into the horizon.' Rose laughed, trying to imagine the look on the Doctor's face.

'Beating the TARDIS with a battery, the Doctor would not be impressed!'

She walked back over to the troops.

'Code 3 confirmed,' she said. 'That means no talking to anyone.' The captain was back from talking to the farmer. 'We're taking the craft back, don't bother with the new entry hall, I'll get it processed quietly. Get it in lab 16 and clear everyone out of there. Only myself and Captain Harkness are allowed in, anyone else needs to come through us for authorisation. Captain Harkness is to supervise loading and securing in the Chinook. There should be more than enough room. And someone tell them we don't need the van they're sending.'

Warrant Officer Richards moved to the boss's side, protecting her once again. He wasn't stupid and he was no longer suspicious of the alien. No, not at all, he was suspicious of both of them. Code 3 meant tell no one… the boss was the only one permitted to write reports or speak to anyone. That gave her complete control. And bypassing the processing? Sure, it happened, but there seemed to him to be little reason for such security so long as they hid Harkness and pretended he wasn't human.

And then there was the fact that the boss hadn't told him anything. Right from when he'd started working for her, she'd made sure he knew what was going on. And now she wasn't.

xxx

Rose was welding. She'd kicked off her mud covered shoes, put her hair into a rough ponytail and pulled a thick metal visor down as she attached pieces to Jack's ship. He'd banged the ship roughly to shape but was now working on the fiddly bits, the bits she definitely didn't understand. At least, not yet. She wanted to keep her eye on him as he sat, cross-legged, reconnecting wires to what she guessed was a strange looking circuit board. He'd taken off his jacket and sat wearing a tight white t shirt and black trousers. Typical Jack, she supposed, but couldn't suppress a smile. It was Jack, and her way back.

The weld complete, she turned off the torch, pulled off the visor and wiped her forehead. Jack was concentrating and didn't notice her pad over until her shadow fell across him.

'As stunning a vision as you are, Rose, you're blocking my light,' he said, looking up and grinning. He was holding a screwdriver and a soldering iron in one hand, with several more tools scattered around him. He scratched his nose with the tip of the screwdriver and she rolled her eyes and walked to the water fountain at the side of the room.

'Drink?' she enquired, pouring her own cup.

'It's not plain old aitch-two-oh is it?' complained Jack, but nodded anyway.

Rose walked back and sat on the floor next to him, her legs neatly crossed beside her, trying to made sure her skirt kept all covered. She handed him his cup and he took a deep drink.

'Not too much work left,' said Jack. 'I'm lucky I had all the extra safety stuff installed! Not to mention the complete labs of Torchwood to steal from.'

'How much longer?' asked Rose, eagerly.

'Not long,' said Jack, but Rose saw a flash of something in his eyes and he looked away.

'What-what is it?' she asked, suddenly nervous. Something had gone wrong, he didn't want to take her, the ship wouldn't fly. Something. Jack took another sip from his water and frowned slightly, pondering his choice of words very carefully. When he spoke, it was slowly, still trying to find a way to say it.

'The Doctor told me you met Sarah Jane Smith,' he said. 'So you know he travels with others. When I met him a year ago he was with two others: Martha and David.' Rose's stomach flipped.

'Then… then he won't want me?' she said, a look of fear rising in her eyes.

Jack squeezed her hand.

'I never said that, sweetheart. But you need to be prepared. Martha and David were, at last count, with each other and perfectly happy. The Doctor's not forgotten you so quickly and I know he still misses you; but he had to get on with his life just like you've done here.'

xxx

'_So there's no way of getting her back? None at all?' said Jack, perhaps grasping at straws. They were sitting in one of the many random rooms of the TARDIS. With a low ceiling, dark walls and a roaring open fire (no doubt an illusion, it wasn't as though the phone box had a chimney), it felt comforting. There were soft red leather chairs in front of the fire, which helped; and a glass of some strange alien liqueur certainly made Jack feel at home._

_At times he'd thought about the Doctor and Rose and wondered what happened to them or if they'd ever meet again; but not enough to mope or worry. Now, however, the Doctor's disturbing news of Rose being in another world, an unattainable place, he began to wish she was there._

'_Don't you think I would have tried a million times over if there'd been even the slightest chance?' said the Doctor. 'If I try and push my way through to her world then there's every chance I'd destroy both universes! Even saying goodbye to her like I did was risky. But I couldn't not.' There had been a sudden change in the Doctor when this topic of conversation had come up. He'd quite happily chatted about what he'd done since Satellite 5 with Rose and asked Jack what he'd been up to. But Rose's journey to the parallel universe and his perceived failure to save her brought a look of sadness to his eyes._

'_But you ended up there before? Accidentally?' offered Jack._

'_The chances of the TARDIS messing up like that again are approaching impossible. Even then, it was entirely accidental and there is a whole plethora of alternate realities. To be quite honest I'd love the explore them all. The idea that I'd end up in the same universe is inconceivable! I mean, we'd have to invent a whole new number just to describe the chance of that happening because with an infinite number of worlds it's practically impossible. I sealed up the rip between the two, the only way of tracing which universe it was.'_

'_But there's still a chance?' Jack frowned. The Doctor grinned, and took another drink._

'_A chance, indeed. I'm insane for thinking so. Absolutely loopy. Did you know the planet of Heraphet, which is twenty thousand, four hundred and six point two light years from here actually worships me as their God of insanity? Long story. But I can hope! Where would I be without hope?' he took another drink. 'Last time was lucky, somewhere somehow the TARDIS had a tiny bit of power, and I had to give away ten years to sort it out. Not,' he added, with a fond pat to the arm of his chair, 'that I in any way begrudge that fact. However, you can't say I don't prepare for the impossible. I had the most fabulously brilliant idea for what to do if I end up in another universe again.' He paused, mostly for dramatic effect, Jack suspected. But also to take another large swig from his glass._

'_And what would that be?'_

'_Batteries!'_

'_Batteries?'_

'_Batteries! Absolutely. You wonderful humans did it again. Not, of course, that you're the only race to invent batteries. But I was buying a newspaper to put some chips in in north London while I contemplated the problem I noticed a wonderful pack of double As. Of course, to fit the idea into the TARDIS required extensive engineering work, making sure they charged up and have enough power.' He was now grinning widely. Jack was beginning to agree with the people of Heraphet. 'I have calculated and engineered, but I now believe I have at least enough power to get to London and back if I accidentally end up in another universe. I can check for zeppelins and collect a certain someone if it is the correct universe. And if not I can have a bit of a nose around, save the world, before returning to wherever I tore a dirty great hole in the universe.'_

_Jack sat back and sipped his drink. It tasted warm at first, then burned at it hit the back of his throat. He coughed, violently, this stuff was stronger than what he'd tasted before and that was saying something! The coughing ruined his careful observation of the Doctor. When he recovered, the Doctor was staring at the fire, suddenly more morose. He downed the rest of his glass and turned to Jack._

'_I know it's impossible, but I can hope,' he said. 'It's the not knowing how she is that's the hardest part...' he trailed off, not really wanting to say more. 'And that tiny small impossible chance that I might see her again, that's what keeps me trying.'_

_He got up and poured himself another drink. Jack had never seen the Doctor even touch alcohol in his old body. He hoped this wasn't a bad sign that he was now drinking far more than Jack could manage. However, the guy was talking, and that was an improvement on brooding in a (very sexy) leather jacket._

'_There's a whole universe out there though,' said the Doctor. 'Stars, galaxies, black holes, histories, futures, wars, invasions, festivals! I have a universe to see and explore and billions upon billions of people to meet. Each with their own story. How could I be upset when this universe is so amazing and wonderful? Dreams, hopes, legends, lives. All of it there to be discovered!_

'_But sometimes, usually when I drink too much I must confess, I think back and wonder what could have been done differently? Sometimes I spend countless time and effort on things like TARDIS batteries in the hope that…' The Doctor broke off, frowned and drank some more. 'Still, I suppose I should have thought of batteries yonks ago, never know when there might be a problem, right?'_

_Jack got to his feet and walked over to the Doctor, who was still standing by the drinks cabinet, then grasped him on the arm. He wasn't always very good at comfort, unless it was going to lead to sex, and this most certainly wasn't._

'_It's perfectly normal to miss someone,' he said. 'As long as it doesn't take hold of your life. Come on, this Martha girl seems all right and like you said, you have your universe.'_

_The Doctor smiled._

'_I was lucky with Martha,' he said. 'She was willing to listen to me ramble on about my old companions. I've never done that before, you know? But since seeing Sarah Jane again and losing Rose I realised that all of those I've travelled with have done the most amazing and wonderful things, but there's no one to remember but me! Without them the universe would have been finished hundreds of times over and other people need to remember.'_

_Jack frowned slightly, trying to imagine the secretive Doctor he remembered letting out the slightest detail about anything. The Doctor saw his look and guessed the thoughts behind it._

'_Some things are meant to stay secret,' he said. 'I'm not suddenly telling the world and it's next-door-neighbour how to build a TARDIS. Some things are not to be talked about. Rose and Sarah Jane and Susan and Leela and Tegan and all the K9s and everyone else need to be remembered for what they've done!'_

'_And Martha and David? What have they done?' asked Jack._

'_Martha was more sensible than me, she pulled me back. It wasn't always the best course, but it saved my life enough times. She's been with me long enough to have averted the destruction of a good few planets. She's not R-she holds a special place in my hearts, as do all my companions.'_

'_Just none of them have quite the same standing as Rose Tyler.' The Doctor didn't answer. His silence was enough._

xxx


	2. Impossible

**Title: **Fractured Worlds

**Rating: **T, I think, tell me if you think it's wrong.

**Summary: **Years after Doomsday, Rose is getting on with her life; until a spaceship with a very familiar pilot crashes into her world. She discovers that the universe still needs saving, and an old friend needs her help. 10/Rose.

**A/N: **This is my first _Doctor Who _fic so I would appreciate any feedback as to whether it worked well or not. I have only seen the new series, but I've done my best to research details from the old series using Wikipedia and various fansites. I've used dates in this chapter, which you might consider wrong, but Rose's canonical age is a bit uncertain at this point.

Thank-you for all your reviews, I think I emailed/PMed everyone who I could to say this, but if I missed you or you didn't leave contact details then thank-you so much! I love hearing what people think about my writing.

**Disclaimer: **_Doctor Who _and associated characters belong to the BBC and I'm making no profit from this.

**Chapter 2: Impossible **

The final screws were tightened, the final wires soldered and the small cargo hold loaded with the pieces of alien tech stolen from Torchwood that Jack and Rose had thought might be handy. It had been an overnight job and the rays of dawn were quickly appearing through the windows. Torchwood worked twenty-four hours a day, but soon there would be a change of shift for the guards, technicians and managers. The true high-ups, like Rose, worked whatever hours needed, so no one had commented on her failure to clock out the night before.

Sweat and oil stained, she grinned at Jack.

'This had better work, fly-boy,' but she was confident that it would.

'Come on, let's get going.'

There was a click of a weapon being cocked from the door.

'Stay where you are!' barked Warrant Officer Richards. He'd returned to work earlier than normal, knowing the boss would still be there. Torchwood's records indicated that she was still in the lab and had been all night, but she'd signed out a lot of the items from both storage and the other labs. And a lot of equipment. He'd found the door locked, but when the boss and Jack Harkness had returned from the storage rooms dragging a large box into the lab they'd forgotten to lock it.

The boss's face went pale, but a strange determination also set in.

'I'm sorry, Mr Richards, but you don't understand the situation.'

'I know that you're planning on leaving, and that you've stolen a lot of stuff!' he said. He kept his weapon trained on her, but an eye on Jack Harkness as well. Fortunately, the man made no move. 'Not only is that in breach of contract, but it's illegal and considered treason.'

'True,' said the boss. 'But after seven years stuck in this universe I'm not prepared to sacrifice my one chance at getting back. Even if it means nicking a few things from this place!' Richards looked distinctly uncomfortable and confused, all of a sudden. 'Go on, Mr Richards, look me up on the computer. The first trace of me is seven years ago. You won't find a birth certificate or anything. Why do you think I got promoted so quickly and knew everything there was to know?'

'I'm going to have to arrest you,' he said, simply. 'I'm sorry, Boss, but you know I do.' Jack Harkness looked at the boss and they engaged in some silent communication. The boss shook her head and turned back to Richards.

'I'm going home, Mr Richards, would you really deny me that? You've worked with me for a year now, which isn't all that long in the great scheme of things, but you know me and you know how I operate. I'm asking you to trust me, this one last time and to let me leave. There are no security tapes for this room so there's no way you'd get implicated for conspiracy. Run to security and tell them you just saw us vanish, but please, let us go.'

Richards stared at her; this young woman seemed truly desperate. He'd worked with her for long enough that he did trust her, and he wanted to do what she asked; but it went against everything he stood for and everything that had been bored into his skull during training.

Finally, he lowered his weapon.

'You have five minutes before I call security,' he said. Harkness instantly turned and boarded the craft.

The boss nodded, but smiled at him. Her hair dishevelled and her appearance tired and scruffy, but there was a light in her eyes that he hadn't seen before.

'Thank-you,' she said, then turned and walked up the ramp. The door closed and less then two minutes later, the ship simply vanished. Richards looked at his watch, gave them another minute and then frantically called security on his radio. He sighed… just as he got used to one boss they always seemed to disappear. And he knew Torchwood had just lost an excellent member of staff, even if she had potentially just gone crazy.

xxx

Jack had set the course for thirty minutes in the past, Mickey Smith's place. That gave them time before Torchwood was on their tails. He left his ship invisible and they entered Mickey's first floor flat through the window. He was, of course, still in bed as it was only six in the morning. Rose smiled down at the sleeping Mickey. Their relationship hadn't worked, not after everything that had happened, but their friendship had only become stronger, he was the only one who could begin to understand what had happened. He'd grown up, of course, he had the clear looks of a nearly thirty-year-old compared to Rose's twenty. He'd also quit Torchwood after the Cybermen had been dealt with and was now in charge at the garage in which he worked.

'Mickey,' she said, gently shaking him. He yelped, jumped up, staring around before his eyes settled on Rose and he relaxed. Although only slightly, since he'd also taken in her dishevelled appearance and spotted Jack, who he no doubt recognised.

'You're going again, aren't you?' he said, defeat in his tone. 'Your Torchwood found the Jack Harkness of this place and you're off around the universe.' It wasn't a question, but Rose gently corrected him.

'This is the Jack Harkness of our universe,' she said. She could see Mickey understood from just that. 'I wanted to ask if you-'

'No,' he said, firmly. 'This has always been a better home for me, Rose, you know it. But if you leave without saying goodbye to your mother then I swear I'll build a rocket and come and get you myself!' Rose giggled weakly, just looking at Mickey.

Then she suddenly pulled him into an almighty great hug and pressed her eyes closed to prevent the tears. He clung to the back of her jacket, holding her back.

'I'm sorry… I just have to,' she tried, pulling back slightly.

'I know,' said Mickey, and pulled her even tighter. 'This has never been your world the same way it's always been mine. Look after yourself and say hello to the Doctor from me.' He kissed the top of her head. 'Go on, off you go,' he said, with a slight smile.

'Thanks,' she said, smiling through the tears.

'For what?'

'For everything.'

xxx

Pete Tyler was up, dressed, and greeting the world with his customary cup of coffee. He'd padded quietly downstairs, leaving Jackie sleeping, as he always did, so he could get to work nice and early to prepare for a presentation. He'd turned the early morning news on and seen footage of a 'small aircraft' crash landing in a field the night before. The BBC had also got footage of all the soldiers… and a young woman with blonde hair and a brown suit.

Jackie had not taken kindly to being woken up so early, but as soon as Pete handed over the tea he'd quickly made, explained and turned on the TV, she was awake, alert and worried.

'She doesn't half work silly hours,' she commented. 'Those bloody people, keeping her up all night. No wonder she always looks tired.'

When there was a knock on their bedroom door fifteen minutes later, they were both surprised to see Rose, looking exhausted and her eyes were slightly red. She was accompanied by a strange young man.

'We're just watching you on telly, love,' said Jackie. 'Who's your friend?'

'Mum, dad, this is Captain Jack Harkness.' Jackie turned to Pete and frowned.

'I'm sure I've heard that name before,' she said. 'But I'm so sorry, you catching me in me nighty and all! You should have told us you were coming, or done it at a normal time of day!'

Pete was slightly more perceptive than Jackie. He'd also heard the name Jack Harkness and he was sure it had been from one of Rose's stories. Rose was also looking nervous. He frowned, getting the feeling that not only was this not good news, but Jack Harkness was not just her mate from the pub.

'Mum…' she began, and trailed off. Her mother looked at her expectantly. 'Jack's from our world. He's a time agent from the fifty-first century. Me and the Doctor travelled with him a while back. He… he's going to take me back.'

Jackie dropped her tea.

'No,' she said. It wasn't a shout, or a scream, just a quiet protest; a beg for Rose to stay.

'I have to do this,' said Rose. She sat down on the edge of the bed. 'It's the one chance I've got. It's the one chance I ever will have. This isn't my world and this is what I've been holding out for for so long.'

'But you've got a job! And a flat! And friends! And a chance to settle down and have a normal life!' Jackie seemed to have got her voice back.

'I don't want that!' Jack grabbed her hand and she smiled gratefully at him. 'You've always known, mum, you must have done. I wouldn't be here if it hadn't all gone tits up in my world.'

'But what about me? And your dad?'

'You can come if you want,' said Rose. 'But Mickey could have come and he didn't want to. This is your world. You, dad and Charlie. It's not mine and it never will be.' She looked at her mum, who looked back; then practically threw herself at Rose to hug her.

Jack turned and left.

'I'm going back to the ship. Come when're you're ready,' he said. 'Remember that Richards will be letting Torchwood know that we left soon though, so we need to actually leave!' He felt bad, hurrying her up like that, but he was itching to be back outside of the atmosphere. Where he'd broken through would undoubtedly be the best place to try and get back through. And he wanted to get back through as quickly as possible in case some meddling Time Lord – _the_ meddling Time Lord – noticed and closed the rip.

When Rose joined him she was wiping away tears, but the look on her face was set. She sat down into the chair she'd insisted was at least temporarily installed and strapped herself in.

'Let's go.'

Jack grinned, pushed a few buttons and pulled a lever.

'I thought you'd never ask.'

The journey back was almost disappointingly uneventful. Sure, there were some strange lights and a fair bit of turbulence, but Jack remained in control. Unlike his trip there, he did not lose control and crash, which Rose was rather grateful.

'I twiddled with the engine a bit,' said Jack, with a grin. 'Made her more compatible with inter-universe journeys. Never hurts, you know. Especially since it appear the rip between this world and that one wasn't totally healed last time. Need to tell the Doctor that one. Right, we're going down to earth to do some last minute check-ups and sort out a strategy for our Doctor-hunt. Where do you want to park?'

Rose unconsciously directed him to the Powell Estate, but she wasn't really paying attention. This was the part she'd ignored. An infinite universe covering billions of years. How were they supposed to find one man who never settled? Earth had always been a safe bet, they'd always come back there so often. But had that been because of her family? She supposed his new companion was from there too, so he might still be visiting. How could they possibly know when? Or where?

'Hey,' said Jack, sitting back on his chair and spinning around to face her. 'Don't worry about it, we'll find him.'

He set the ship to hover well above head height and made sure it was invisible, before running a diagnostic test to check all systems were still go. He and Rose watched the test in silence. Despite his reassurance, they both knew this would be an incredibly difficult task.

'I'll broadcast an encrypted signal, but I'll have to set it to be oddly deflected to Torchwood won't be able to guess our location. I worked for them for long enough, I'm quite happy with my freedom for now.'

'I'll… go get a paper,' said Rose firmly. 'Be good to find out what's going on and check we're in the right universe.'

'We'd better be!' said Jack. He lowered the craft and she headed out to find the local newsagents. 'Hey, Rose! Be back soon, I want to crack open some booze, I think we both need it!'

Several hours later, Jack was seeing the world as the Doctor did… everything felt like it was spinning. Rose was sitting on his bed, leaning back and giggling. She'd pulled off her shoes, pantyhose, jacket and tie, and undone several buttons of her shirt so he could see a bit of lacy bra.

''S warm in here,' she told Jack.

Jack was trying to think of a good reason not to sleep with her. He wasn't sure there was one. He took another generous drink of whiskey and moved to top Rose's glass up. She giggled and pulled him down next to her on the bed.

'Y'know what I think?' she said, blinking slowly.

'What?' whispered Jack, slowly moving closer.

'We should… should go all the way back in time… And then we could find the Doctor.'

She drained the rest of her glass, then passed out on his bed. Jack frowned. That hadn't been what he was after. But there was something trying to get through the fog in his brain and he sensed it was important. He got to his feet, and found that the walls were moving around… how odd. He staggered over to his drinks cabinet and pulled out an unmarked bottle, three-quarters full of clear liquid from the back. He took a long swig, put it back and staggered over to his bathroom to throw up. Drunkeness cures tended to involve a lot of purging, very quickly. There was a reason he didn't use do this often, he thought, coughing and retching.

Finally, it was over. Now what had Rose been saying that he'd thought was important enough to merit that? Splashing his face with water, he remembered: travel back in time…

He dashed to the front of his ship and set the coordinates for what he hoped was a reasonably quick return journey.

xxx

The Doctor and Jack half walked, half staggered to the front of the TARDIS.

'My dear Captain Jack,' said the Doctor, flinging open the door. 'It's been marvellous to see you again! We should do this more often! In fact, come back whenever you want!'

'Has been lovely to catch up!' replied Jack, staggering out into the cold night air, before turning back to press a kiss on the Doctor's lips. He walked off and was soon out of site into the darkness that was the early hours of the morning. The Doctor turned to leave, but whipped around when he heard a shout.

Jack was hurrying back, but wearing different clothes and carrying a bottle of clear liquid.

'Oh no,' said the Doctor, backing away. 'I might be drunk but I'm not stupid. Let me guess, my good captain! You're from a different time, with a dire warning and you want me to sober up to hear it. I've had that stuff before and it does me no good at all. Different physiology, you see. It will get down into my stomach and this lovely Miam… that's the booze by the way, mixed with my digestive enzymes will break it down into its component molecules. Fascinating process, really. Anyway, did you want to come in and give me the dire warning or are you happy staying out there?'

'It's not so much a dire warning, but it is important,' said Jack. Damn, how on earth was he supposed to get through to a thoroughly drunk Time Lord?

'Really?' said the Doctor. 'Not dire you say? What's got into the universe? And why are you, Captain Harkness: time agent, travelling in time and potentially destroying the universe by creating a lovely paradox involving meeting yourself if it's not dire?'

'You need to come to Earth.'

'Now? Who's invading now? I can't fight all your planet's battles for you, you know? Especially not when I'm so wonderfully tipsy!'

'No, you don't need to come now, you need to come on May thirtieth, 2014.'

The doctor stared at Jack for a second.

'OK then!' he said, brightly. 'I don't think I'll remember this in the morning but I'll get the TARDIS to remind me. Now I believe you had better be off back to May 2014, just in case you miss me! I shall see you in a year.'

xxx

Martha surveyed the room that had been hers (and later David's) for what seemed like a very long time. Although time was the one thing there was always enough of on the TARDIS, she had been completely unable to keep track of how old she was or anything like that. Even with frequent trips home it was difficult. She'd packed up all of her things into a large suitcase and several carrier bags. Over the years she'd accumulated not just clothes but all sorts of things from many of the places they'd been to. And now she was leaving for good.

She felt arms around her waist and turned to see David, her fiancé. He was tall, with dark hair and eyes and a truly gorgeous figure. She smiled broadly and kissed him.

'Are you sure, darling?' she asked. 'This is two centuries behind where you're from. Are you sure you want to live there?'

'Yeah, I'm sure,' he said. 'It's not like I had a family or anyone to go back to. And I think we're both ready to settle down. Even the Doctor realises.' Martha laughed.

'That doesn't mean he's happy about it.'

'He doesn't understand though, does he? What it's like to want to live a normal life. Have a house, get married, have kids. All he wants to do is travel. We've done than, but now we've grown up and what we want has changed.' Martha hugged him tighter.

'Yeah, but I still worry about him!' she laughed. As if he needed worrying about, really. 'Come on, let's go!' She picked up the case and David grabbed the bags.

The Doctor was running around the console pushing buttons and pulling levers with his usual style.

'David! Hold down the Anti CE Detector Stabiliser!' he shouted, then seeing the confusion. 'The one with the red handle! Martha, push the Time F-the big green button on that side!' The two jumped to action, by now used to simply doing as they were told. 'It's quite amazing really. I was setting the coordinates for modern day Earth and I found a little note I left for myself. Roughly translated from Gallifreyan it says I need to be on Earth on May the 30th, PS: I won't remember because I wrote it while drunk. This means I've got to change the arrival time and do a search for anything out of the ordinary or alien! Extraordinary… I don't have a clue what this is about! You two can let go now by the way.'

'Are you sure it's not a trick?' asked Martha.

'Even if it is, I want to find out who was smart enough to trick the TARDIS into thinking it was me! But don't worry, we'll find- ooh… I think I've found something. A nice strong signal. Encrypted too, and far beyond the levels of present cryptanalysis! And it's being bounced all over the place but it's coming from somewhere in London! At least you'll be able to get the tube home! Although I never did like the Underground myself so you might prefer a bus. Or when I've found out what this is about I'll take you straight there.'

The Doctor began pressing buttons and peering intently at the screen in front of him. Martha moved around behind him to look, but it was in quickly changing Gallifreyan. It didn't take long before it seemed to finish, though, and the Doctor looked up and grinned.

'Jack Harkness… the Powell Estate… my my! You've made this journey a lot of times before, I'm sure you know where to park!' It took Martha and David a second to realise he was talking to the TARDIS. The Doctor grinned wildly at them both. 'We're going to meet an old friend of mine! Not sure what he wants, but I'm sure you'll love him!'

xxx

The TARDIS battled through the crazed whirl of the time vortex, seemingly randomly. It span and jolted and jumped course. It looked impossible that anything could live through such a journey.

'The TARDIS!' Rose sat bolt upright, staring at the wall in front of her. Jack jumped out of his sleep at her shout.

'What? Where?'

'I can feel it!' she said, her face pale, her hair all over the place. Jack grinned.

'Brush your hair and get your clothes back on, Rose Tyler, I think it worked!' She turned to stare at him.

'What worked?' she asked.

'Before you passed out last night you suggested time travel. So I went back to a time I knew the Doctor was going to be, and told him to show up here at this time.'

Rose suddenly looked even more terrified.

'He's coming here? Now? I… I…' she broke off, looking around the room in almost panic. 'What if he doesn't want me?' she voiced at last, quietly, sounding as though she'd lost already.

'Look, Rose,' he said gently, pulling on jacket. 'I'll go outside and explain what's going on. You can get yourself dressed and come out when you're ready to see him. If you've got a headache there's more booze, best hangover cure available!' Rose smiled weakly and gathered up the various clothes she'd shed the night before.

Jack lowered the ship, although left it cloaked so the nosy neighbours of the estate wouldn't see and wonder. He grabbed an almost empty bottle of whiskey as he left the ship. Stepping down on to the ramp he heard a familiar noise as the TARDIS started to appear. He jumped the foot or so to the ground and waited for the door to open.

Out stepped the Doctor, followed by a girl and a boy Jack could only assume were Martha and David.

'Captain Jack Harkness,' said the Doctor, grinning widely. 'Martha Jones and David Marron. Although when they've helped me solve whatever you've done they're staying here and getting back to normal life!'

Jack winked at David and Martha and presented the Doctor with the almost empty bottle. 'Er… happy birthday!' he said.

'It's a good thing it's not my birthday,' said the Doctor, peering into the bottle. 'Or I'd be incredibly disappointed with how little of this there is left.'

'Nah, that was just to make a point that you missed a wild party last night!' said Jack. 'Your real present is that I've made a hole in the universe – completely accidentally I should add – and I'm giving you the responsibility of sorting it all out!'

'Ah,' said the Doctor. 'I should have known that you'd have come up with something special. Oh well, nothing I haven't done before!'

'I ended up in a parallel universe, a bit like you described. Torchwood found me but I met this lovely young lady who helped me both keep my ship and fix it. On the condition that she could come back to this universe and travel.'

The Doctor stared at him.

'You took someone out of their universe, knowing they could never go back, just because they wanted to travel?' he said, amazed. 'I hope you explained the consequences to her.'

'She's a clever girl,' said Jack. 'She knew exactly what she was doing. It was Mickey, Jackie and Pete that weren't quite so impressed with me.'

The Doctor's eyes widened.

'It's… it's… impossible,' he finally stuttered out.

'Very improbable, and we'll discuss that later,' said Jack. 'She's a bit nervous, after all these years, but she's in there.' He pressed the remote in his pocket and the ship appeared, just for a couple of seconds; which was more than enough time for the Doctor to run to the ramp, up it, and disappear into the hull of the ship.

xxx

Rose watched Jack's retreating figure and began to pull her tights on. Her clothes were still filthy from the field and from fixing the ship, and now they were thoroughly crumpled from sleeping in them. She looked like a tramp. But that was nothing compared to how she felt. She wanted this more than anything but now it was actually happening she was terrified. He'd been her Doctor and they'd travelled together, but that had been years ago. He had his new companions now, and from what Jack had said he was doing fine. How could she ever deal with it if after leaving her family to be with him, he simply didn't want her?

She sat on the edge of the bed and stared at the wall, too afraid to leave the craft.

There was a noise on the ramp.

'Jack?'

But there he was: the Doctor. Looking almost the same as when she'd left him, although in a slightly different suit. The same unruly brown hair; the same bright eyes; and the same massive smile that seemed to light up his entire face.

'Doctor…' she said, not quite sure what to say.

He didn't say anything. Instead he flung himself at her and pulled her into an enormous hug. She felt his lips on hers, his arms around her back clinging on as though his life depended on it. He smelled of strange spices and foreign plants and of something that was undeniably Doctor-ish, something she'd never thought she'd smell again. After her initial shock she relaxed against him, smiling through the kiss.

Then the Doctor pulled back, someone reluctantly, although his hands were still on her arms. He looked at her, took her in as quickly as he could, from her unchanged features to the scruffy clothes she was wearing to the tears in the corners of her eyes, before catching her gaze and holding it again, still smiling. They sat in silence for a couple of minutes, not moving.

'Nice suit,' he said, eventually and Rose couldn't help but laugh. It was almost identical to what he'd worn when they'd travelled.

'Found the fabric in Camden Market,' she said. 'Couldn't resist.' The Doctor laughed and hugged her again. They sat in silence for a little bit longer. 'How are you?' asked Rose. It was woefully inadequate.

'You know what?' said the Doctor. 'I'm pretty good. Things… things are looking good. Although from what the good old Captain Jack told me, you might be in need of some headache pills!' Rose smiled.

'I'll be fine,' she said. 'Jack just can't take his booze.' The Doctor laughed. 'Erm… Jack said you're travelling with two other people now…?' she trailed off.

'I'm dropping them off on Earth,' said the Doctor. 'They got bored of the universe and decided to get married. Can you imagine that, Rose? Wanting to settle down after what you've seen! Knowing how much more there is!'

'No, not really' said Rose, smiling again. Although she hesitated and bit her lip before she asked the next question: 'So… erm… what will you be doing now?' The Doctor grinned again.

'Jack Harkness has managed to put two universes in peril, although I can't say I'm unhappy with it! I thought, you know, a bit of saving the universes might be in order. I er… hope you didn't want breaking in gently after your nice long holiday?'

'Oi! I'll have you know I was working!' said Rose although she smiled broadly. 'Where do we start?'

xxx

Rose wandered down the familiar halls of the TARDIS, leaving the Doctor in the console room. It wasn't long before she came upon a distinctly familiar door. If it wasn't for the fact that hung on it was the word 'ROSE' carved out of the deep purple wood of the Yrnich tree then it would look like any other door, but the wonders of the TARDIS meant that she'd still have known. The carving was unnecessary when the TARDIS tended to move the rooms to accommodate your needs, but Rose thought it was pretty.

Smiling, she pushed open the door and took in the scene before her eyes. Nothing had changed over the years, there were still magazines strewn across the end of her bed; the t-shirt she'd tried on and discarded that fateful morning was in a heap; her lip gloss was still open (although long since dried up) from when she'd heard the Doctor shout for help and had to run to the console room to push a series of random buttons and had quite forgotten all about make-up. She sort of smiled at the walls, trying to make the TARDIS aware that she was really quite glad the Doctor hadn't been able to find her room, especially in such a state.

She stripped off and dropped her suit into the hole in the wall to be washed, then headed for the shower. Twenty minutes later, feeling fully clean for the first time in a while, she walked back into the bedroom thoroughly wrapped up in two pink fluffy towels.

Opening her wardrobe door she looked at the clothes with a slight grimace, for the first time feeling that she was in the wrong time. This was a teenage girl's bedroom. The clothes, posters and make-up had been her belongings. Nowadays she spent more on mascara but wore less of it; wore tailored suits and no jeans (although that was partly because she hadn't taken a day off in months); and read books on physics and aliens rather than articles on fashion. OK, so the last one was a lie: she still read trashy mags, but she read about physics as well!

The TARDIS, seeming to sense that she didn't want the clothes she had, spat the suit back out the porthole in the wall. Rose grinned, dressed and put on some make-up. _Ready to face the world again,_ she thought. Then she chucked the dried lip gloss container in the bin, picked up the t-shirt and tossed it into the wardrobe and headed out to find the Doctor.

She didn't end up in the console room, instead the kitchen of the TARDIS, where the Doctor and Jack were eating toast and discussing the hole in the universe.

'Where's the other two?' she asked, searching around the back of the cupboard for her invisible mug.

'Jack took them home,' said the Doctor. 'They said they'd help if it was needed, but they didn't want to, really. They'd decided they wanted to leave and didn't even want one last adventure. I've agreed to get in touch as soon as all this is over so we can be invited to the wedding. It was implied that I would be best man.' The Doctor wrinkled his nose at the thought. Rose just laughed, finally having found her mug and got herself some tea. 'I've been wondering where that mug is for ages!' continued the Doctor.

'I thought the point was that only I could see it and it avoided anyone else, just so no one can nick my drink!'

'I love these mugs!' said the Doctor, taking a sip out of what was presumably his, since it looked like he was drinking nothing. 'They're only available on certain optical frequencies so only one person can see them! And if they sense someone – using a mixture of pheromones and air samples – who isn't their programmed owner, they fly away! Genius!'

'Where'd you get 'em?' asked Jack.

'Fifty-seventh century Earth,' said Rose. 'Means I can't nick his tea, but I can nick his toast,' she swooped down, grabbed a piece and took a big bite before the Doctor could even protest. Jack laughed at the complete shock on the Doctor's face.

'Come on, Doc,' he said, grinning. 'End of the universe, let's not concentrate on the toast! Look, I've told you all I know and we've had a few wild guesses, but now I guess I should break the news.' Rose and the Doctor looked at him confused. 'I can't stay. Not right now, anyway. Before I ended up in the wrong universe I was leaving Earth because I have some stuff that needs doing.'

'What is it?' asked the Doctor. 'Maybe we can help?' but Jack shook his head.

'Private business,' he said. 'Rest assured it's important and that I'll be back as soon as I can be, but I know you two do perfectly fine without me!'

The Doctor and Rose stood to see him off. The Doctor was lost in thought; he guessed this was something personal for Jack. Possibly involving his missing two years and the time agency… but surely that sort of thing could wait? Probably, anyway. More likely it was personal… family or friends. Jack never talked about his family, but then, neither did the Doctor, so it worked out well. Family and friends sometimes felt more important than saving the universe, because if the universe got saved and you had no one to go back to, then what was the point? He sighed, feeling as though he'd had to put the universe over family and friends far too many times.

'I'll be back before you can imagine it!' said Jack, with a grin and a wink. Rose hugged him and kissed him on the cheek.

'You'd better,' she said.

Jack and the Doctor briefly embraced.

'Best of luck and cheerio,' said the Doctor. 'If you want to find us the TARDIS is quite capable of communicating across time and space so I'll send you the TLAEA before you disappear! Thanks again for breaking open the universe,' he said, with a wink at Rose. 'You've both given me something to do and someone to help!'

Jack grinned, waved and disappeared into his ship. Rose watched as the shimmer in the air took off and began to rise out of the atmosphere. She shut the door and turned, the Doctor was already at the console, presumably sending something to Jack.

'TLAEA?' she asked the Doctor.

'That would be Thing Like An Email Address,' said the Doctor, at least having the decency to look embarrassed. 'Way of instantly contacting me ignoring silly things like distances in time and space.'

'You mean like _doctor at TARDIS dot net_?' she asked sniggering. The Doctor pulled a face.

'Are you implying that the internet of the universe uses the same address structure as twenty-first century Earth?' he demanded. 'But anyway, before I get onto explaining the exact structure of my TLAEA and how it works – because you know I will – let's get going!'

He pulled a few levers and pushed a few buttons, most of which Rose still hadn't fathomed. He was bent over a screen as he adjusted the TARDIS, biting his lip in concentration, brows furrowed. She couldn't help but smile as she watched him: same old Doctor. He looked up, noticing her staring and frowned quizzically.

'Still in there?' he asked, with a bit of a wave.

'Yeah,' she said, and headed over. 'So what we doing?'

'Well, Jack gave me the coordinates of where the rip was and he told me he didn't do anything. He might be occasionally reckless but I'm inclined to believe him, since no one really knows how to do it anyway, it just happened, even to us. This means there's a weakness. I've taken some readings for Torchwood Tower and there's nothing. I closed it, just like I said I did, but I must have missed a bit. Jack accidentally ended up in the same-'

The console beeped. The Doctor turned to glance briefly, then stared, his eyes flicking backwards and forwards as he read it several times.

'What is it?' asked Rose, nervously, tucking a strand of loose hair behind her ear.

'It's not quite that simple, that's what it is,' said the Doctor, still staring at the screen. Then, suddenly, he jumped into action and started working at the console again. 'Right, we're taking off, can you cover that side of the console for a normal take off?' Rose ran around and began to methodically follow the procedure she'd somehow managed to remember from all those years ago. She switched levers and buttons and twisted dials and wondered if the Doctor would ever actually explain what she was doing.

'What's going on Doctor?' she asked. 'Why are we taking off? Surely materialising would be better? It's London, people are gonna say something.'

The Doctor didn't answer straight away, he was still busy, but once he's stabilised the TARDIS.

'The people of London barely remember the Sycorax invasion or the "ghosts",' he said. 'It's a lot easier for them to just pretend they never happened. Their view of the entire universe doesn't have to change. Just think, ignoring the wonders of the universe simply out of worry!'

'Doctor,' said Rose, warningly.

'I got the TARDIS to do a check on where Jack said, but it's completely blacked out. Nothing's responding, the EM spectrum and sound waves are just coming back with nothing. Unless there's a mini-black hole hovering a few kilometres above the Earth's atmosphere, and I have to say I highly doubt that, then something that's baffled even the TARDIS is hiding it! That's alien technology, highly advanced tech, too. And highly advanced aliens are rarely interested in Earth unless it's something nasty!'

'But surely the people down on the ground would notice? Maybe their TVs would cut out, and for all you say about them ignoring things, if there's a problem with the telly then there'll be riots!' The Doctor grinned widely at Rose.

'Of course! Why didn't I think of that?' then he frowned. 'Although it's highly unlikely and possibly even impossible.'

'What did I think?' asked Rose, confused.

'Maybe it's not something that's baffled even the TARDIS,' he said. 'Maybe it's something that's baffled _only_ the TARDIS!' Rose raised an eyebrow. 'Think about it: no one on Earth will notice anything unusual like holes in the universe outside the atmosphere, not even Torchwood. Unless of course their TV cuts out and _Eastenders_ gets interrupted. However with a highly advanced mind like mine, coupled by the fact that whoever put this black out up probably noticed Jack's comings and goings… well, put one and one together and get the only even prime! I'm the only one on this whole wonderful planet who would notice the rip and try to fix it and they know that. So they need to hide it from me.'

Rose nodded, she supposed it made sense.

'Hang on,' she said. 'If they don't want your computer's probing, surely they'll have put up some defence against the TARDIS?'

'That's impossible!' said the Doctor. 'It's b-'

But he was interrupted when the lights cut out and the TARDIS jerked, flinging them to the ground. For the first time ever, Rose could feel it as the TARDIS began to fall to the Earth, twisting, spinning out of control. The Doctor grabbed hold of a bar at the edge of the console and stretched out for her.

'Rose!'

She stretched back, almost grabbing his hand but was suddenly thrown back and into the wall. Suddenly, everything went black.


	3. Theta Sigma

**Title: **Fractured Worlds

**Rating: **T, I think, tell me if you think it's wrong.

**Summary: **Years after Doomsday, Rose is getting on with her life; until a spaceship with a very familiar pilot crashes into her world. She discovers that the universe still needs saving, and an old friend needs her help. 10/Rose.

**A/N: **This is my first _Doctor Who _fic so I would appreciate any feedback as to whether it worked well or not. I have only seen the new series, but I've done my best to research details from the old series using Wikipedia and various fan sites

Thank-you for all your reviews, I think I emailed/PMed everyone who I could to say this, but if I missed you or you didn't leave contact details then thank-you so much! I love hearing what people think about my writing.

Sorry there's been such a long delay between chapters. I've been frantically busy on my uni course and I've had a bit of a block as to where I'm taking this fic! The psychic credit card I mentioned in this chapter I got from 'Only Human', one of the 9th Doctor books that's fairly recently been released. I'm considering those to be pretty much canon since Rose actually talked about one in Boom Town.

I feel I should comment on Torchwood. The Brits reading might have seen it, as have I. However, this fic was planned and started before TW was aired, so I'm basically ignoring it. TW itself won't figure heavily in the plot though, so it doesn't really matter!

**ALSO! **I have a livejournal:D It's not very active but if anyone wants to friend me then come over and say hi, the link is in my profile!

**Disclaimer: **_Doctor Who _and associated characters belong to the BBC and I'm making no profit from this.

**Chapter 3: Theta Sigma**

_The grey mists swirled, colours and shapes were obscured by the clouds. She could see nothing, feel nothing beyond the grey. Then vague shapes formed in front of her, a woman's figure was there… just about._

'_Theta…' Rose heard a soft voice say, just on the brink of her hearing. She would have jumped, if she had a body to jump with._

'_Who is it?' she tried to shout, but it came out just a whisper._

_The woman's shape suddenly came together, her features cleared. Rose saw a pretty lady with curly hair. Tears stained her cheeks, but she had a strange beauty and she managed to look both old and young._

'_You are not-' she broke off, her voice louder now, with less of an echo. 'He has many names, Theta Sigma, D-' but as suddenly as she had appeared, her figure disappeared._

xxx

The Doctor winced as Rose hit the wall of the TARDIS with a sickening 'THUD'. He wanted to run over to her, but the TARDIS was shaking and twisting so much even standing seemed impossible. He desperately pulled himself to his feet, gripping the bar with white knuckles. How was this possible?

The main power was still out but the TARDIS was not dead, although her heart seemed worryingly bright and he could almost feel it aching. He frowned… it didn't feel of pain, more of power coursing through him and the TARDIS, and he had no way of knowing what was happening. Ignoring the strange sensation, he ripped open one of the panels on the console and found the small set of buttons for emergency procedures, powered by his wonderful batteries. He smashed his hand against the Rapid Air-Resistance Increasing Device.

A loud noise from above indicated that the device had worked and the TARDIS's rapid descent and wild swinging ceased. He hoped not too many people looked up, as he knew a police telephone box with a bright blue parachute was currently making its way to Earth.

Closing his eyes he took a deep breath, trying to calm himself down, willing it to all be a dream. Something powerful and advanced enough to break the TARDIS was guarding a rip in the universe.

Suddenly, his eyes flew open and he remembered Rose. She was lying in a corner looking slightly bruised and bashed around. She was breathing and her heart was beating fast. He opened her eyelids… her eyes had a strange glassy quality to them. Worried, he checked her over for blood, internal bleeding and breakages, but she had no obvious physical injuries apart from what felt like a tender area in her head. He arranged her in the best recovery position for humans and ran off to find the medical bay.

The long corridor had no doors, and he hurried down it, frowning. True, the doors in the TARDIS tended to move, but usually they moved to be convenient, not the opposite way around. He broke into a jog – still no doors. Finally, with a sigh of relief, he saw the end of the corridor up ahead and ran forward, out, and back into the control room.

He shouted in shock. This meant the TARDIS really was in need of some repair work. At least he had the console room, although it appeared everything else was hiding. He could work that out later, right now he needed to help Rose.

She was as he'd left her. He knelt beside her, taking her hand.

'Come on, Rose Tyler, you're not going to let a silly thing like a bump in the head beat you!' he said. 'Unfortunately I don't have any water so we're going to have to wait until we land for that. The only thing I do have is the Sonic Screwdriver, which I know for a fact has lots of settings for healing. It doesn't come with aspirin, but you're a tough girl.' He set the screwdriver and began to work on her bruises, starting with the rather large on that seemed to be forming on her head.

He bit his lip as he worked, looking down at her. He knew she was far from dead, but he couldn't help but worry all the same, he'd only just got her back, after all! Losing her again simply wasn't on the cards. She looked the same as she always had, he mused, but her eyes had revealed more about her age than the rest of her body would.

_Must be the work of the time vortex_, thought the Doctor as he worked. _I can't think of any other way she could stay this young. Does that mean I wasn't able to remove all the residual energy? Or that it left her with a few extra years? Surely if it was going to harm her it would have shown by now, and not in the form of making her look young. I hope it's not taking her life force to make her look nineteen…_

His chain of thought was broken, as Rose's eyes fluttered. His face broke into a wide grin, his wonderful Rose was back!

'Rose! How are you feeling? What hurts?'

'I'm… OK,' she managed. 'Bit of a headache and a few sore spots, but I'll be fine.'

'Of course you will!' said the Doctor. 'I did say!'

'Did you?' said Rose, with a bit of a smile. 'I didn't hear…' she sort of trailed off, and looked around, frowning slightly. 'I was somewhere else,' she told the Doctor.

He helped her into a sitting position leaning against the wall and crouched opposite her, looking worried. Rose put her arm down to lean on, and winced, quickly taking the weight off it.

'Here,' said the Doctor, and gently took her arm, inspecting for bruises and running the screwdriver over them. 'Where were you?'

'I don't know, it was all grey,' said Rose. 'I felt like a ghost, I didn't have a body or anything. Then this lady appeared, like, out of the fog. I think she thought I was someone, someone who goes by many names, but the only one she told me before she vanished and I woke up was Theta Sigma, whatever that means.' Rose laughed roughly. 'A bit weird for a dream, right?' She looked up at the Doctor. His face was pale and he was staring at her. 'What?'

'Theta and sigma are two Greek letters, both are used by humans in maths,' he said, slowly. Rose suddenly remembered something.

'Oh yeah! I had to do a maths course for Torchwood, coz I don't have any A levels. Theta was something to do with angles and sigma… that meant the sum of!' She looked at the Doctor. 'Angle sum of? And that was someone's name? How cruel are some parents? And I thought Marion was bad enough and that's only my middle name!'

The Doctor gave an attempt at a smile.

'It's not a name, Rose,' he said. 'It's a nickname.'

'Oh,' she said. Then it something clicked. 'You recognise it, don't you? That's why you went all scared looking.' The Doctor nodded. 'Now,' continued Rose, thoughtfully. 'Because you're scared that means it's something you know for a fact you haven't told me and something you never thought you'd hear again? Am I right or am I right?'

'On both counts,' said the Doctor, smiling weakly. 'Rose, I…' he took a deep breath and started again. 'Not everyone on Gallifrey is a Time Lord. You have to graduate out of one of three academies before you become one. Theta Sigma – usually just Theta – was _my_ nickname at the academy. I don't exactly throw the name around, the only people who know it are dead, in fact.'

'Oh,' said Rose. She opened her mouth to ask why he had a nickname in Greek, of all languages, but was interrupted by a gentle bump.

The Doctor leapt to his feet.

'We've landed!' he said, avoiding her eyes. 'Power is still out and she's still feeling sick, so I had to use the emergency system. And that, my dear Rose, means we could be anywhere. Well, anywhere on twenty-nine percent of the Earth because the bump and the lack of waves does lead me to speculate that we're not in the sea. We were above England, which is always a positive. Let's just hope we're somewhere secluded.'

He ran over to the door and stuck his head out. Rose waited for a reaction.

'Well,' he said finally. 'No people and no cars, which is a plus point. But no buildings either. I think I can hear a road!' He patted his pockets, checking for all the essentials. 'Sorry, Rose, but we're going to have to abandon ship and get a lift to the nearest town. I can't get anywhere in the TARDIS, all the rooms are being kept from me. As soon as we sort out where we are and find somewhere to stay, we can hire a truck to come back for the TARDIS. The old girl will be all right by herself for a bit, although she might be a tad angry with me when I come back!'

Rose sighed and followed the Doctor out of the TARDIS. Maybe she should go back to wearing jeans and trainers again? Although she supposed this suit was getting used to all the abuse. She was tired, thirsty, and still a bit woozy; and now she was falling behind the Doctor who, despite the situation, seemed to still have endless energy. She tramped after him, keeping her head down against the wind and the light drizzle that seemed to have suddenly arrived.

Half way across the field, the Doctor turned back to see her a good few metres behind. He smiled and held out his hand. When she caught up with him and interlocked fingers, he squeezed her hand slightly.

'Sorry I didn't tell you to wear sensible shoes,' he said. Rose laughed and fell into step next to him.

'I need to get some more clothes, wherever we're going,' she said. 'Maybe you can wear the same suit for months on end, but I like to be clean!'

'Hey, I'll have you know that the suits I wear are from 2109 and happen to be self-cleaning!' he said. 'Although I might have to get a couple of things,' he added with a bit of a frown.

Eventually they came across a road and followed it for a bit, since none of the cars seemed inclined to give them a lift, until they found a farmhouse. The Doctor managed to blag usage of the phone, a number of a local taxi company and some food and drink for Rose.

She gulped the water eagerly, it felt like days since she'd last had anything to drink. Her head was throbbing again too, but she was still upright and breathing, so she wasn't overly worried. She felt exhausted, though, her legs were aching from the walk and her eyes felt heavy. The Doctor finished on the phone and sat down next to her.

'We've got about a twenty minute wait,' he announced. 'Which isn't too bad, really. We're going all the way to London, although it's not too far away or else I'd have said somewhere else. From there we'll grab some food, some clothes and a hotel room. Rest and recuperate before anything, I think!'

He smiled at Rose, slipped an arm around her shoulder and fondly kissed the top of her head. She blinked slowly at him, trying not to fall asleep. He cuddled her closer and she let her head drop onto his shoulder. Not to sleep, of course, just because… because…

'Rose, Rose!' someone was shaking her gently. She peered through almost shut eyelids to see the warm brown eyes of the Doctor. 'We're here!' She looked around in surprise at the buildings and cars that surrounded her, before noticing she was in a taxi, with the Doctor holding her door open. 'Come on out, my beautiful Rose,' he said, offering his hand. She took it, surprised at what he'd said, and before she knew it she was on her feet and walking alongside him.

'So what's happening now?' she asked, still not entirely up-to-date on what she'd missed.

'I let you sleep through the taxi ride,' said the Doctor. 'You looked far too peaceful for me to disturb without guilt trips for the next three centuries!' He grinned at Rose. 'As long as you're feeling ok the plan is still food, clothes and a room for the night! I have my nice psychic credit card – which took a lot of effort to get back from the good Captain, I have to say – so we can go wild!'

They had chips for lunch, of course, followed by a wander around a large department store. Despite her wooziness, Rose knew that the chance to go shopping, especially for boring essentials like clothes, didn't come up often when she travelled with the Doctor. So she went a bit mad and by the end had to get the help of a shop assistant to carry it. Even when they did sort the TARDIS out, she didn't really want to wear many of her old clothes because of how young they made her look and feel. They would just turn her into a nineteen year old again and she needed to grow up.

The Doctor had vanished when they entered the store and told her he'd find her when they were both done. Now, he approached, made no comment on the huge pile of Rose's new things and furtively shoved a few bits onto the pile. Rose noticed pyjamas, socks, boxers and a couple of white shirts. She almost giggled at his embarrassment: on top of her pile were all her new bras and knickers (some of which were quite lacy) but she couldn't force herself to care. She'd been underwear shopping with blokes before, even ones she wasn't going out with (although that had been a strange friendship!). She wondered if the last time a woman had seen the Doctor buy underwear had been his mother. She bit her lip to avoid giggling, mainly because he was the one with the credit card.

xxx

The Doctor knocked loudly at the adjoining door between their rooms.

'Is it important?' called Rose.

'Yes!' he responded, a little urgently, and opened the door. Rose was sitting on the bed in front of the mirror wearing nothing but a hotel towel, combing her wet hair. He stared at her for a second. 'Er… sorry!' then he went over to her TV and turned it on.

A BBC reporter appeared on the screen.

'A reminder of today's top story: Police investigating the increasingly frequent but unexplainable murders have received a breakthrough communication from one of their Officers before he was killed.' The screen cut to a shot saying _Captain Roberts' last radio transmission_. 'Argh! It's not human, it's metal, it's-' then there was a scream and the reporter's face appeared. 'For the past several months these murders have been going on. Approximately a hundred people are killed every night and until now the police and the army have received no information, nor have they been able to stop it. The Chief of-' the Doctor turned the TV off again.

'I think that's all you need from that. From what I can gather, every night about a hundred people die, but all in the same area. It looks like the killer just picks a building, polished off everyone in there and then moves onto the next building until the sun comes up. Anyone who arrives at the scene is also killed.'

'And now they've got some guy who says it's a metal something,' said Rose, worried. 'The metal ones are always the worst!' The Doctor gave a twisted grin.

'It's not necessarily Daleks or Cybermen,' he said. 'There are plenty of hostile metal creatures around in the universe, if they only had a heart, you know!' Rose raised an eyebrow, but the Doctor continued. 'The problem is, we know there are Daleks and Cybermen on the wrong side of that hole in the universe, and I don't believe in coincidences as big as this one.'

'But isn't that the problem for them?' said Rose. 'They're in the void, how could they get people on this side?' she finished combing her hair and turned towards the Doctor.

'I don't know,' he said. 'I'd say it's impossible. But I'd also say whatever happened to the TARDIS today was impossible, so I guess I'm not right all the time! We'll have to look into it, have a nose around the crime scenes and all that kind of thing! First thing tomorrow I'm going to find a way of getting the TARDIS here though, so at least I can start working on it!'

Rose looked at her watch, it was six o'clock in the evening, but they'd had food not long ago.

'What are we going to do tonight then?' she asked.

'Well, unless you want to go paint the town red,' began the Doctor. 'There are peanuts, crisps and chocolate bars in the mini-bar if you get hungry. Unless your tiredness has vanished of course.' Rose grinned, suppressing a bit of a yawn.

'I guess I'll go put my PJs on then,' she said.

'Erm… yes… good idea,' said the Doctor, becoming aware once again that she was only in a towel. 'I'll just erm…' Rose laughed.

'I'll change in the bathroom if you want to stay in here for a bit,' she said, with a wink. The Doctor couldn't quite think of a witty retort. Or anything to say, in fact. Damn the girl, he was an expert and practically everything except This Sort Of Thing. She got to her feet and began searching through the various bags that she hadn't unpacked. The Doctor stared at her legs, which were not very covered up at all. Rose straightened, having found what she wanted, and the Doctor jumped around, pretending to be looking at the wall.

'I'll be out in a sec,' she said. 'Crack open the mini-bar! It's been a rough day, let's end it with some style.'

He heard the door click shut and got to his feet, blinking and shaking his head slightly. What on earth was getting into him? The mini-bar was sadly lacking, in terms of mind-blowing alcohol, although there was two of every bottle (plus the same amount again in his room) so that meant he could drink plenty. Human alcohol didn't do much for him unless it was in truly excessive quantities, he'd found several much stronger types in his years of travelling which were far better. Unfortunately they were currently hidden somewhere in the depths of the TARDIS.

'Did you want a drink, Rose?' he called.

'Vodka and something,' she replied.

He put one of almost everything into a large glass for himself, making a mental note to not even let Rose smell it, then got her a 'vodka and something'.

Rose emerged from the bathroom just as he settled himself down on the edge of her bed. She was wearing loose pyjama bottoms and a little strappy top that showed off arms and neck and he could see the outline of her-he looked away, almost frantically, and took a large gulp from his glass. He'd looked at Rose before, he'd always found her attractive, occasionally even to the point of staring. But not like this. Never like this. What had changed?

Rose turned away and picked up her own glass from the table, taking a sip. She'd noticed him staring, of course, and now her cheeks were a little pink. Maybe she should have worn a bra… she mentally shrugged, too late now. She turned and crawled into the middle of the bed where she sat cross-legged. The Doctor turned to face her, hiding his embarrassment as best he could.

'What are you drinking?' she asked him.

'Most of the mini-bar,' he replied, with a bit of a grin. 'And I guarantee it won't even get me tipsy!' Rose laughed. 'Do you like the hotel?' he asked, almost nervously, as he'd been the one to pick it out.

'Like it?' said Rose. 'I don't think I've ever stayed in anything this posh before. Well, except my dad's house in the other world, but I moved out pretty quickly.'

'Yeah?' he asked.

'Oh you know, rebellious teenager and all,' she said. 'I got the job in Torchwood so I started off on a pretty good salary; but I also kept getting promoted so it wasn't long before I could easily afford my own place, even my own place in a posh London penthouse. Besides, I'd got far too used to doing stuff my way, it's not that I didn't like it for a bit, but being back with mum was constricting.' The Doctor laughed.

'Jackie? Tell you what to do? I can't imagine it!' Rose giggled. 'So it all worked out with Pete then?'

'Uh huh, it was difficult at first, because ever so often he'd remember and say I wasn't his daughter, or that mum wasn't his wife. But after she smacked him a few times he came around to her way of thinking!' The Doctor grinned, it was nice to know others were at the receiving end of Jackie's slaps. 'He was the one that saved me, after all,' said Rose. 'It might not have been what I wanted, but mum wanted it and even I knew it was better than the Void.'

'And how's Mickey?' said the Doctor. He'd even rather hear Rose talk about boyfriends than the fact that she'd been so close to death and _he_ hadn't been able to save her.

'He's good,' she replied. 'Owner of his own garage, he didn't want to work with Torchwood any more, he just wanted to say goodbye to aliens forever, I think!'

'And you two were…?'

'It never really worked out,' said Rose, biting her lip and frowning. 'At first because all I needed was a friend and later because well, we just grew apart. I was working at Torchwood, so I just worked all the time. He was always there though, like he always has been,' she gave a bit of a smile. 'I was still never guilty about it, either, I'd turn up at his door with no warning and almost every time he'd just drop what he was doing. Unless he had a girlfriend over,' she allowed herself a small smile. 'Then I'd just wander off and feel rejected, never mind that I hadn't phoned in weeks or whatever!'

She yawned, but took another mouthful of her drink anyway.

'So come on, Doctor, let's hear about how many times you've saved the world?' The Doctor grinned and clambered on to the bed so he was sitting cross legged opposite her. He loosened his tie, took a large mouthful of drink and began with a very serious expression on his face.

'Did you know the Teletubbies are an ancient alien evil designed to brainwash the children of this planet?' that was as far as he got before a grin poked through and Rose swatted him on the shoulder. 'Hey, careful with the booze!' he protested.

'You watch even more TV than I do!' she said. He smiled again and tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear. She couldn't help but smile too, just at the silly affection in the gesture.

'Do you mind talking business for a bit longer?' he asked and she shrugged, quite happy as long as he stayed here with her for a bit longer. 'That dream you had this morning,' he began. 'The best theory I've formulated so far is that you were communicating somehow with the TARDIS, but I'm sure if you look into your heart, you'll know whether that's true or not. You know what she feels like, after all.'

Rose frowned, thinking back to earlier that day. While she had no clear recollection of when, all those years ago, she'd looked into the heart of the TARDIS, since then she'd found everything went a lot more smoothly for her simply because she knew the TARDIS in a way even the Doctor didn't. He was right, she did know how the TARDIS felt, and it wasn't like the woman in her dream. She looked at the Doctor and shook her head.

'I don't think so,' she said. He frowned, clearly trying to think of another explanation. 'I don't know who or what it was, but they knew you.'

'I told you, everyone who knows that name is dead!' he said, clearly distressed that he hadn't seen it. 'The heart of the TARDIS was throbbing and there was power, different to normal, so it must be something to do with it, are you sure it's not? Are you really sure? Because she might be in more trouble than I thought…'

'Shh,' she said, gently stroking the side of his face. 'Relax, my dear Doctor, we always solve it all in the end, don't we? And the TARDIS is tough, she'll outlast both of us and you know it.' He lifted his hand up to hold hers and gently kissed her palm.

'I know we'll solve it,' he said softly. 'But this is different, the TARDIS has never done this before, or should I say had this done to her. I told you, it's imp-'

'-Ossible!' chorused Rose. 'And tomorrow we're going to hire a van, get the TARDIS here, fix her up, find the alien and close the hole in the universe. Tonight, however, we're going to drink our way through at least this mini-bar, possibly the one in your room too!' She held up her glass. 'To alcohol!' The Doctor laughed and raised his.

'To saving the universe with a massive hangover!' they clinked glasses and both took a large drink.

xxx

When Rose woke up the next morning and had an arm around her middle and her legs were tangled up in a mixture of duvet and someone else's legs. It wasn't that she hadn't woken up like this before, but this time was slightly different. She kept her eyes closed and her breathing even while she assembled her memories.

They'd talked about what they'd been up to since they'd last seen each other (and the Doctor had been able to correct several mistakes and solve a couple of mysteries from the artefacts and ships that Torchwood had collected under her supervision). He'd tried to get off the bed and break one of the windows with his Sonic Screwdriver just to prove how bad their situation was. Rose had dragged him back onto the bed and fed him some more alcohol.

As to how they'd ended up in the same bed, she didn't really want to think about that…

xxx

''_M tired,' murmured Rose. The Doctor tried to jump to his feet, but ended up staggering and swaying._

'_Sorry!' he almost shouted. 'You should've told me, you… you humans sleep lots and lots. I'll go back into my room.'_

'_Don't be such a pussy, Time Lord! Get your clothes off and come here!' She very definitely wanted a cuddle, although she was fairly sure that hadn't sounded right. She pulled him back onto the bed, divested him of his jacket, tie and shoes, and pulled him next to her. She giggled. 'My silly Time Lord,' she said. 'I'm not letting you go now, I've got you!'_

'_Only 'cause I'm not letting loose my super powers!' he protested, but wrapped an arm around her anyway. 'And 'cause I don't mind that much,' he added, smiling at her._

_She smiled back, kissed his nose, and cuddled into his chest._

'_My Time Lord,' she muttered into his chest, her eyes closed._

'_My human,' he murmured, kissing the top of her head._

xxx

Rose groaned, partially at the memory and partially because a rather nasty headache had invaded on her pretending-to-be-asleep. She felt the arm around her middle squeeze gently.

'How are you feeling?' a quiet voice next to her ear asked.

'Fine,' she said. Well, maybe not fine, but it was nothing that wouldn't disappear soon enough.

'We possibly shouldn't have mixed head injuries and alcohol,' said the Doctor, guiltily. 'I fixed it as best as I could with the screwdriver but there's no guarantee that I got everything.' Rose shifted slightly and turned to face him; he gently ran his hand through her hair.

'How long you been up for?' she asked, changing the subject and desperately hoping her breath wasn't too horrible.

'A while,' he said, dropping his arm to her waist again. 'I don't really need as much sleep as you, although I like to catch a couple of hours a night.' Rose frowned.

'You shouldn't have just stayed there, we've got stuff to do today.'

'Worry not,' he said, grinning and pointing at the small bedside table beside her. 'You left your phone there, which I'm glad to see is still going strong, so I called a truck company and offered to pay them extortionate amounts if they pick up the TARDIS and bring her to London. I said I was a collector of things like that and that my truck broke and couldn't take the weight so we had to leave her. I'd go myself, but she's pretty much atomic bomb proof so they can't do any damage and we need to do some detective work today! If you're feeling OK, of course…?' Rose raised an eyebrow and the Doctor grinned. 'Thought so, but don't you dare complain at me that your head hurts. You brought it all on yourself.'

With that, he kissed her on the nose just like she'd done to him the night before, jumped out of the bed and disappeared into his own room, closing the central door behind him. Rose heard the TV blare up and she began to pull herself out from under the covers.

She couldn't help but smile as she showered and dressed. He was still her silly lovely crazy gorgeous Doctor after all those years, she just wished she'd realised how cuddly and adorable he was before then!

xxx

The Doctor hurriedly showered and put his clothes on as not to miss too much of the news. There was nothing to add on what they'd seen yesterday, but he jotted down a couple of locations to take a look at. The situation looked bad… people were evacuating London like crazy, especially in the east, where the problem seemed to be, although the increasing area was moving west now. High centre of population density, the Doctor supposed, whatever this was it was just systematically killing people not because of who they were, but because they were people. He guessed Daleks, but the whole thing felt impossible.

Sighing, he turned the TV off and lay back on his bed, trying to think. But wherever his thoughts strayed, he drew up a blank. This whole thing was one mystery after the other: breaking through from the void was impossible, he knew that much. Not to mention that whatever had done so had the technology to both fool and almost completely destroy the TARDIS. Then there was Rose's crazy dream…

He bit his lip as he thought: that had been his chance. He could have told her so much, about his mother, about his banishment, how the TARDIS wasn't even legitimately his, how the Time War had been fought and how it had ended. Still something held him back, more than nine-hundred years old with more secrets than everyone else he knew and he couldn't quite bring himself to tell the one person he trusted anything at all.

And then he couldn't help but think about the other side he was increasingly seeing to Rose. The girl who wore lacy underwear, who had a gorgeous figure that he couldn't stop staring at, who said he was _hers_ and who cuddled up to him to sleep. He rather hoped she hadn't been that drunk, because a part of him really wished she'd do all that (and more) while sober.

He shook his head, there were more important things to be thinking of right now, like the fact that there was quite possibly a Dalek hiding in London.

Suddenly he jumped to his feet and raced into Rose's room, she was just doing up the last button on her shirt and raised an eyebrow at his sudden entrance.

'Rose!' he began. 'We know it's metal and probably associated with the void, which like I said, means Daleks or Cybermen. I don't know how on Earth I didn't narrow it down yesterday, but the two species have entirely different aims: Cybermen want to propagate, Daleks just hate everything that's not a Dalek. So if it's one of those two then it must be a Dalek, am I right?'

'As long as it's not just a really big coincidence,' she said, brushing her hair and looking at herself in the mirror as opposed to at him. He wandered over to where his jacket and tie lay from the night before and began to put them on as he next spoke.

'But if it is a Dalek, why is it hiding? Even if there's only one of it, they're not the type to sneak around, they have shields protecting them and several different ways of killing. Why go to all the trouble of killing at night and hiding during the day? What's more, I know there's a vague trend in that it's in the east and slowly moving west, but for a creature like a Dalek it's being a bit random! No one quite knows where it's going to strike next.'

'So it's covering its tracks?' she asked, putting a bit of mascara on and desperately trying not to smudge. The Doctor did pick inconvenient moments sometimes.

'Well whatever it is, even if it's not a Dalek, it's up to something. Or else why go to the trouble of systematic extermination, but only when it's dark? If there's only one of it then there's no one else to do the job and it has to preserve itself!'

'So it's possibly a Dalek, but it's up to something and doesn't have a death wish,' summarised Rose, carefully inspecting her eyes in the mirror for smudges. The Doctor's face appeared next to hers in the mirror, she jumped, he'd wandered up and she hadn't noticed.

'You look lovely,' said the Doctor, grinning at her and grabbing her hand. 'Ready to go? We're playing policemen today, at least, if someone is around, better than doing the usual and hiding.' Rose picked up a jacket with her free hand.

'Are my clothes ok?' she asked, somewhat nervously. Jeans had always been fine before, but she found herself not wanting to wear them to desperately try and prove her age. Instead she had on black trousers and a summery pink shirt.

'You look fine, Detective Tyler,' said the Doctor, grinning. 'Come on, let's go!'


End file.
